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The west coast and islands of Taiwan have abundant wind resource, which offers a great opportunity for large-scale offshore wind power generation. In Taiwan, the first stage of the offshore wind farms at the Jhang-Bin and Penghu areas has been planned. In particular, the Jhang-Bin wind farm will become the first and one of the largest wind farms in Taiwan. Therefore, its impacts on system operation and security have to be investigated and studied in advance. Following a general connection design discussion, this paper is consist of four major system impact analyses: load flow, fault current, voltage variation, and transient stability. Moreover, three types of typical wind turbines have been adopted in this paper in order to compare their performances on the wind farm integration system. From the simulation results, some significant conclusion and recommendations have been extracted, which would contribute to the first offshore wind farm development in Taiwan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the effects of installing variable current-limit reactors (CLRs) and adjusting load tap changers (LTCs) on the performance of a commercial wind farm in Taiwan using computer simulations. The companion paper (Part I) demonstrates the field-measured results, simulation model, and simulation results of the studied Jang-Bin wind farm with 23 2-MW doubly fed induction generator-type wind turbine generators connected to the utility system through a 23/161-kV 60-MVA step-up main transformer (MT) from six feeders. Six CLRs, which were originally designed to limit short-circuit currents under faulted conditions, are connected in series with the six feeders. The LTCs of the MT are used to adjust/regulate the secondary-side voltage at the 23-kV bus. Some simulated steady-state and transient results of the studied wind farm with variable values of the proposed CLRs and LTCs are analyzed and compared. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The semiconductor industry has been regarded as one of the most important industries by Taiwan due to the market share of Taiwan's semiconductor industry in 2011 ranked second worldwide. However, the European debt crisis triggered a global economic recession in 2011, causing Taiwan's output of semiconductors in 2010 and 2011 to show negative growth. This paper will mainly explore, from the performance evaluation perspective, the Malmquist productivity index of the Taiwan's semiconductor industry based on a metafrontier approach. The empirical results show that the European debt crisis in 2011 had an impact on Integrated circuit (IC) design companies and IC manufacturing companies, but that there was no influence on IC packaging and testing companies when measuring static efficiency. From the viewpoint of dynamic productivity performance, the paper finds that the main reason for the negative growth of IC packaging and testing companies and IC design companies came from a backward movement in technical change, but the main reason for the negative growth of IC manufacturing companies derived from a decline in pure technical efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses Risk-Adjusted Return on Capital (RAROC) to assess the performance of 14 financial holding companies (FHCs) in Taiwan. RAROC value indicates a firm's performance after considering the market risk effect, and gives a better measurement of the firm's operational productivity than traditional methods. We use the full valuation methods to calculate Value at Risk (VaR) as the market risk measurement for economic capital. According to the New Basel Capital Accord, the market risk of Internal Model should be adjusted, and the Bank for International Settlement suggests using the backtest to select the best full valuation method for estimating adjusted VaR. Therefore, this paper evaluates the best market risk model, and assesses and compares the performance for each firm before and after its merger and acquisition into the FHC. Overall, we find weak evidence that the performance of 14 FHCs increased over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores key factors affecting the operating performance of container terminals, and compares the performance of various container yard (CY) facilities at the port of Kaohsiung using grey relational analysis (GRA) and the concept of entropy. The paper's findings can be summarised as follows: (1) The most important attributes affecting the operating performance of CY equipment include number of CY facilities, transport distance of CY tractors, speed of movement of CY facilities, handling efficiency of CY facilities, and number of working tractors. (2) Based on entropy weighting value and GRA, CY handling facilities can be ranked in terms of operating performance in the order ofautomatic rail transtainer, automatic stacking crane, rail transtainer, straddle carrier, and rubber tyred transtainer. (3) From both operating performance and green terminal perspectives, automatic rail transtainers represent the optimal CY model compared with other container handling facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents both steady-state performance and dynamic simulations of a commercial wind farm (WF) in Taiwan through field measurement results and computer simulations. The companion paper in Part II discusses the dynamic and transient analyzed results of using current-limit reactors (CLRs) and load tap changers on power-quality improvement of the studied WF. With 23 2-MW DFIG-type wind turbine generators, this WF is connected to the 161-kV extra high-voltage substation of Taiwan Power System through a 23/161-kV 60-MVA step-up main transformer from six feeders with CLRs. Through comparing field measured results, this paper establishes a simulation model to simulate and analyze the steady-state and dynamic characteristics of the studied WF which is subject to disturbance conditions under different wind-speed conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes the implementation of the Wide Area Differential Global Positioning System (WADGPS) system in order to evaluate the operational performance of a satellite based aviation navigation system within Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR). The main objective of the WADGPS is to provide real time integrity information regarding the use of GPS for civil aviation applications. This paper uses the e-GPS observation stations operated by the Taiwan Ministry of Interior (MOI) as the WADGPS reference stations to collect the L1-L2 dual-frequency GPS measurements. A WADGPS master station is also implemented to process all GPS measurements sent from each reference station, and then generate the vector corrections. These vector corrections consist of the satellite ephemeris and clock errors, and a grid of ionospheric delays. The data stream also includes confidence bounds for the corrections and "Use/Do Not Use" messages to provide integrity. These messages are then passed to the WADGPS user through the Internet. This paper discusses the WADGPS system architecture and the system performance analysis. A five-day operation performance in Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) is presented in this paper. The results show that the WADGPS can improve the accuracy performance of GPS positioning and fulfill the integrity performance required by Non-Precision Approach (NPA) defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data envelopment analysis (DEA) has been constantly used to measure the technical efficiency of decision‐making units (DMUs). However, the major problem of traditional DEA methods is that they do not consider the possible intermediate effects. Recently, many papers have applied network DEA models to evaluate the efficiency scores. However, the linking activity of DMUs is still hard to be recognized. Hence, we employ DEMATEL to obtain the linking activity of DMUs. Our empirical research shows that the proposed method can soundly deal with the purpose of identifying the relationship between variables and derive the reasonable result in network DEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines data envelopment analysis (DEA) measurements and manager prior opinion measurements to generate a posterior measurement for an overall measurement of the technical efficiency of banks in Taiwan. The involvement of mutual participation of bank managers in the evaluation process provides refined evaluation results and explicit corporation atmosphere among bank's evaluation operations. The empirical results indicate that the posterior measurement differs from the original DEA efficiency scores and/or financial ratios, which in turn indicates that bank efficiency can be measured by applying the methodology of Bayesian concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hypothesis testing approach, based on the theorem of probability integral transformation and the Kolmogorov–Smirnov one-sample test, for performance evaluation of probabilistic seasonal rainfall forecasts is proposed in this study. By considering the probability distribution of monthly rainfalls, the approach transforms the tercile forecast probabilities into a forecast distribution and tests whether the observed data truly come from the forecast distribution. The proposed approach provides not only a quantitative measure for performance evaluation but also a cumulative probability plot for insightful interpretations of forecast characteristics such as overconfident, underconfident, mean-overestimated, and mean-underestimated. The approach has been applied for the performance evaluation of probabilistic season rainfall forecasts in northern Taiwan, and it was found that the forecast performance is seasonal dependent. Probabilistic seasonal rainfall forecasts of the Meiyu season are likely to be overconfident and mean-underestimated, while forecasts of the winter-to-spring season are overconfident. A relatively good forecast performance is observed for the summer season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates comprehensive operational performance measures for transport services. A network efficiency approach is used to analyze the production efficiency, service efficiency, and operational efficiency in a unified framework to reflect the transportation service characteristics of airline operations. We show how a modified version of the network data envelopment analysis model can be utilized for evaluating the performance of air route operations. This study considers 15 air routes operated by a domestic airline in Taiwan to highlight the value of the approach. The results of the analysis show the inputs and consumed outputs leading to production inefficiency and service inefficiency respectively as well as the magnitudes of excesses and shortfalls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an alternative data envelopment analysis (DEA) method for assessing the performance of joint maintenance shops (JMSs) in the Taiwanese Army over two 6-month periods in 2000. It further examines the possibility of using DEA over time as a basis for continuous improvement. To help productivity improvements, the DEA results for the first time period were implemented at the five selected JMSs located in Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung, Chaiyi, and Kaoshiung. The findings show that most of previously inefficient JMSs, on average, have become relative more efficient through DEA recommendation remedial actions. Three JMSs increased their technical and pure technical efficiencies; and one JMS increased its scale efficiency. Few JMSs were operating at increasing returns to scale, indicating a potential to expand. As such, it can be a valuable benchmarking tool for the JMS managers and assist in efficiently using scare resources to produce productivity. Finally, the Army has accepted DEA as a performance measurement tool for JMSs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The objective of this research is to examine the relationship between signals including governance and management practices and the performance of family firms IPOs. Using IPO data of 129 family firms and 129 comparable non-family firms from the Taiwan Stock Exchange, our findings highlighted the role of non-family insiders, or non-family affiliated directors in the IPOs of family firms. Our comparison between family and non-family IPOs shows hiring prestigious underwriters significantly improves the performance of family firm IPOs. Finally, we found the industries of IPO firms moderate the relationship between corporate governance characteristics and IPO performances, as non-family firms in technology industries are perceived to be more legitimate than their family counterparts. This paper makes three contributions to existing research. Firstly, we contribute to the legitimacy theory by suggesting an interaction effect between internal (organizational) and external (environmental) factors. Secondly, our analysis highlighted the roles of affiliated directors and industry in the performances of public family firms. Thirdly, this study contributes to the family business research by underscoring the differences between family and non-family firms in the IPO context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study constructs a panel threshold regression model to explore the price impact of foreign institutional herding of firms listed in the Taiwan Stock Exchange during January 2000 to June 2008. Our panel threshold model is constructed to explore the price impact of foreign institutional investors' herding in the Taiwan stock market after controlling the firm size. By examining the presence of threshold effect, this study analyzes whether firm size would obviously and asymmetrically affect the explanation for the effect of changes in foreign investors' share ownership on abnormal returns. The empirical results of this study find the significant evidence of threshold effect which divides the stocks into large-size and small-size firms. It is found that foreign institutional investors in the Taiwan stock market tend to hold large-size stocks listed in the Taiwan Stock Exchange. There is an apparent increase in the subsequent abnormal returns on large-size stocks bought in bulk by foreign investors. The signals of changes in share ownership initiated by foreign institutional investors would reveal further information for improving the performance of asset reallocation decisions in Taiwan. The panel threshold model constructed in this paper well describes the price impact of institutional herding yet eschews the possibly subjective data snooping issue resulting from the two-pass sorting method as proposed by previous related researches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The international trade of Korea and Taiwan has been heavily dependent upon international seatransportation owing to geo-political aspects. Therefore, the two countries have exerted to develop and promote ocean-going shipping industry in order to support their economies. Recent financial crisis in together with the economic slowdown has reduced seaborne trade cargoes, which resulted in remarkably deteriorated revenues of the container shipping sector. Major container shipping companies of both countries such as Evergreen, Yang Ming, Hyundai, and Hanjin under our study are no exception. This paper intends to achieve two-fold aims. The first applies entropy to find the relative weights of financial ratios of the four companies each year. In so doing, we can find the weights variance for the period of 1999–2009 based on the financial performance of the above companies. The second is to rank the companies in the period by grey relation analysis. On the basis of findings in this paper, we suggest business policy implications to mitigate impacts of the financial tsunami in the context of world shipping area. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The main purpose of this paper is to explore Taiwanese firms' risk behavior when investing in China. Firms' investment decision-making in relation to risk propensity may be affected by its (1) aspiration performance, (2) looming bankruptcy, (3) sound operating resource, and/or (4) investment behavior within an industry. There is no reason to believe that a consensus of risk behavior is shared among various industry sectors. Nevertheless, little empirical evidence exists on this issue in the academic world. Apart from risks associated with globalization, firms in Taiwan, unlike those of other nations, face very high political risk owing to the cross-strait political tension with China. Past researchers have taken variables such as innovation or R&D expenditure as proxies in testing the risk behavior of firms, and yet the reliability of these two variables to represent risk behavior remains arguable. The authors use China investment as the proxy for risk behavior of firms in Taiwan to study the decision-making behavior of two groups: One group in electronic and information technology (EIT) industry and another group in the nonelectronic and information technology (nonEIT) industry. Empirical results show that (1) China investment is significantly affected by peer investment; (2) the EIT firms are more aggressive in resource utilization; and (3) R&D expenditure has a significant positive relationship with China investments in Taiwanese firms with strong past performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents three-dimensional finite element (FE) analyses of an all-frame model of a three-story reinforced concrete (RC) building damaged in the 1999 Taiwan Chi-Chi Earthquake. Non-structural brick walls of the building acted as a seismic resistant element although their contributions were neglected in the design. Hence, the entire structure of a typical frame was modeled and static and dynamic nonlinear analyses were conducted to evaluate the contributions of the brick walls. However, the results of the analyses were considerably overestimated due to coarse mesh discretizations, which were unavoidable due to limited computer resources. This study corrects the overestimations by modifying (1) the tensile strengths and (2) shear stiffness reduction factors of concrete and brick. The results indicate that brick walls improve frame strength although shear failures are caused in columns shortened by spandrel walls. Then, the effectiveness of three types of seismic retrofits is evaluated. The maximum drift of the first floor is reduced by 89.3%, 94.8%, and 27.5% by Steel-confined, Full-RC, and Full-brick models, respectively. Finally, feasibility analyses of models with soils were conducted. The analyses indicated that the soils elongate the natural period of building models although no significant differences were observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was motivated by a request to review relative operations performance for various fabrication facilities within a leading Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer. Performance evaluation is important but often controversial. To dispel the controversy, we propose a two-stage fabrication process model to systematically analyze metrics currently adopted, and show that the commonly used wafer-based indices are biased for operations performance. Instead, they should be decomposed into productivity, representing true operations performance, and manufacturability. We suggest the use of data envelopment analysis because of its confirmed linkages to other widely used productivity measures and its overall performance via relative comparisons. The case study illustrates how the two-stage model evaluates and analyzes real-world operations, and the empirical results show the drawbacks of conventional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the validity and predictability of technical analysis in the Taiwan stock market. Bootstrapped tests of White (2000) and of Hansen (2005) are employed to ascertain whether there exists a superior trading rule among two broadly used sets of technical analysis. One coming from Brock et al. (1992) and the other from Sullivan et al. (1999). Moreover, this study brings together powerful bootstrapped tests along with two institutional adjustments to ascertain the efficacy of technical analysis: (1) non-synchronous trading and (2) transaction costs. The empirical results indicate that this triad-data snooping, non-synchronous trading and transaction costs, has a great impact on the performance of technical analysis. In fact, the Taiwan stock market stands for market efficiency, and economical profits cannot be rendered from technical analysis in this market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to propose a unified framework of data envelopment analysis (DEA) model so as to facilitate legitimate comparisons of performance among the production and service processes as well as overall operations. The fractional measure network DEA (FNDEA) model is constructed by analytically stratifying the structure of an operational network according to the transport service characteristics of air routes. We compare the proposed model with separate multi-stage DEA evaluation results by using an actual data set from the domestic air routes of an airline in Taiwan. The results show that the FNDEA model is significantly different from the separate multi-stage DEA model in magnitude of performance scores. Managerial strategies for the improvement of performance for the airline are also suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based upon the resource-based view and national culture perspectives, this paper investigates the two-way relationship between R&D investment and company performance. We propose that company performance and R&D investment have mutual effects, and the magnitude of these mutual effects varies with different national cultures, different company rewarding systems, and different decision-making patterns of management teams. Related hypotheses are developed and tested on the data of the US and Taiwanese technology-intensive companies during 1998-2003, and are generally supported by the statistical results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Traditionally, the performance of MSW (municipal solid waste) management is almost assessed based on the recycling rate or the collection cost per unit of waste collected only. It neglects the impact of the different actors in the society on the performance assessment. In this paper, we evaluate the integrated efficiency of MSW management that is divided into three stages: MSW generation, sorting and collection by using the tools of data envelopment analysis (DEA) and analytical hierarchical process (AHP). The relative efficiency in proxy of performance at each stage for each decision making unit (DMU) is calculated by DEA and the weighting factor at each stage in affecting the integrated efficiency of MSW management is measured through the support of AHP. We compare MSW management performance between urban and rural regions in Taiwan and attempt to examine the factors that affect the efficiency variation, by using data of 23 cities/counties in 2008. The results show that urban regions have higher performance in sorting but lower in generation, collection and integrated efficiency than rural regions. This paper highlights the important role of MSW generation in affecting MSW management performance and provides an integrated model to assess MSW management performance by dividing MSW management into three stages including MSW generation, sorting and collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teaching in a large university class involves many problems, including poor interaction and discussion between teacher and students, difficulty taking attendance, and time spent managing students. This paper adapts a new model that applies technology into class, and analyzes performance of the innovative teaching model adapted to large classes using a Taiwan university as an example. The results from this study show that the model saves a lot of class management time and increases the opportunity and time for interaction and discussion in a large class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Traditional methods of evaluating energy performance of building tend to focus on comparing the observed energy consumption with the average value of energy consumption by regression method or theoretical value calculated by simulation analysis. This paper attempted to evaluate and rank the energy performance of buildings from the perspective of multiple objective outputs. Specifically, considering the interactions between the weights of attributes of building energy performance, this paper adopts fuzzy measure and fuzzy integral, one of the multiple attribute decision-making approaches, to rank the evaluated buildings. The energy performance of 47 office buildings in Taiwan were evaluated and ranked to serve as a case study to illustrate the procedure and effectiveness of the proposed approach. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to propose a Six Sigma project to improve the replenishment process in the logistic center of Amway Taiwan Company. Design/methodology/approach - This study elucidates the define, measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) methodology of Six Sigma, using qualitative and quantitative tools. Numerous improvement actions are implemented. A control plan is developed to sustain and enhance the performance of the replenishment process. Findings - The project has substantially benefited the logistic center, including reducing replenishment frequency and urgent shipping rate, decreasing cost of transportation, lowering the inventory of service centers and shortening the replenishment planning time. Research limitations/implications - The methodology that is employed in this study can be adopted by the logistic centers of other direct companies. However, they can modify the detailed contents and tools according to their organizational conditions. Practical implications - This study demonstrates a project in which Six Sigma is adopted to improve the replenishment process of the logistic center in Amway Taiwan. It describes how the project was specified, how the tools were employed in the different phases and how the improvement actions were implemented. In conclusion, the key benefits of, and experience gained from this project are emphasized. Originality/value - This paper will be of interest to academic researchers and practical managers. The structured methodology of Six Sigma integrated logistic techniques was applied in a leading direct sales company. The project in the logistic center of Amway Taiwan provides a good reference for other companies that plan to implement Six Sigma management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public management and quality in the public sector have a number of unique conditions in comparison with the private sector. They presume basic preconditions, common to sociopolitical and administrative culture: legitimacy, the rule of law and ethical behavior based on common values and principles such as openness, accountability, participation, diversity, equity, social justice, solidarity, collaboration and partnerships. Public policy is implemented in and by government agencies; this is the very place where the concept of Good Governance gets promoted first. The study demonstrates how qualitative performance evaluation is linked to dissemination of Good Governance, comparing more generally Asia with Europe in their pursuit of achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Government agencies in Taiwan and Estonia differ from historic viewpoint but share the path of democratization, offering original research for comparative analysis. The paper defines and contextualizes Good Governance by using a Common Assessment Framework (CAF) and evaluates its application in administrative agencies in respective small states. The findings suggest that effective promotion of good governance in transition societies depends mostly on political will and management commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the banking industry was liberalized in 1991, the financial holding company has become more and more competitive in Taiwan. Thus, it is an important for financial holding companies to be operated efficiently. This paper focuses on a study, which used data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique to compare the performance of 14 financial holding companies in Taiwan. We provide the conceptual model for simultaneous analysis of operating and human resource performance in this paper. The analysis models of DEA include CCR, BCC, Bilateral, Slack-Based Measure, and the FDH model. We analyze overall efficiency, pure technique efficiency and scale efficiency of the financial holding companies in Taiwan. We also use bilateral model to measure and compare efficiency between the bank-based holding companies and non bank-based holding companies. And we investigate the most productive scale size for the financial holding companies. Finally, we provide some management suggestions for the financial holding companies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In accordance with the source water implementation plan rule (SWIPR) in Taiwan, water treatment plants (WTPs) with source water parameters exceeding the source water quality standards are required to submit a source water implementation plan to improve the source water and drinking water quality. In this study, the SWIPR was analyzed, and the concept of comprehensive performance evaluation (CPE) was applied for upgrading the performance of WTPs. Three WTPs [Da-Nan WTP (Type 1), Liu-Du WTP (Type 2), and Chen-Chin-Lake WTP (Type 3)] were selected as demonstration projects. A CPE team was established to evaluate the operations of these WTPs and make recommendations for improving the performance of the WTPs to achieve the drinking water standards. This paper describes the analysis and recommendations of the CPE team. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the worldwide impact of industrialization, renewable sources of energy from solar play a huge role in supplying the domestic demand in Taiwan. This paper aims to impart an unbiased performance evaluation of different solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants around Taiwan. This study utilized data envelopment analysis (DEA) using the epsilon-based measure (EBM) model to compute the performance efficiency and ranking of the solar PV power plants. Additionally, the model is used for its advantage of combined radial and non-radial measures to achieve a more precise measure of efficiency. The results show that among nine selected solar PV plants, the top-performing DMU was I (8200051) from the southern part of Taiwan. Therefore, this study recommends that EBM can be a useful tool to evaluate the performance of solar PV power plants using multiple inputs and outputs. Additionally, this study will contribute to sustaining and developing the existing solar PV power capacity while achieving the installation of 20GW of solar energy as part of Taiwan's goal. Even though the study has achieved the set goals, various restrictions remain present. Future studies could address micro and macro-level factors that influence the performance of solar PV power plants, which are not included in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taiwan is geographically rather homogenous, but it has undergone different historical developments that have led to a diverse cultural landscape, and it attracts international tourists who seek to experience different cultures and cuisines. This paper examines the effect of intellectual capital (IC) attributed to the overall performance relationships of cultural and creative organizations (CCOs). Based on 434 Taiwanese CCOs and integrating the concepts of the upper social network and IC theories, the findings argue that interrelationships exist among types of intellectual capital. Further, social capital plays a critical mediating role in the relationships between IC and CCO performance. Furthermore, business ties play positive moderating roles, and environmental uncertainty has negative impacts on social capital and CCO performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study applies artificial neural network (ANN) to explore the relationships between the performance of R&D projects and its determinants. The results indicate that the quality of project environment has an inverse U-shaped effect on the performance of R&D projects, and both project managers'' skills and the effectiveness of teamwork have monotonic positive influences on it. Besides, this study utilizes self-organizing map (SOM) to classify the Taiwanese information and electronics companies into three groups and further provides some suggestions. In addition, this paper uses an in-depth interview of qualitative research to explore why the quality of project environment has an inverse U-shaped effect on the R&D project performance, and finds out the main reason. There are two managerial implications in this study. First, the relationships between the performance of R&D projects and its determinants are not always linear in the complex and uncertain environment nowadays. Second, companies must care about the inverse U-shaped effect of the quality of project environment on the performance of R&D projects, although they can enhance the extent of project managers'' skills and the effectiveness of their teamwork as much as possible. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The strong and sustained growth performance over the last few decades of the emerging economies in Southeast Asia, including Korea and Taiwan, has stimulated an extensive literature. The ‘miracle’ explanation of economic growth in the Asian region is now discredited but the phenomenon remains the subject of several important economic debates in an extensive literature. These debates include the issue of whether there is a distinct Asian ‘model’ of growth, the extent to which their success marks the triumph of market-oriented solutions over government intervention and the sources of their competitiveness and productivity growth. This study examines the development strategy of late entrants in Taiwan and Korea’s TFT-LCD industry. It was suggested that Korea, under the full support of its government, tends to challenge the first mover in the TFT-LCD technology and compete with the frontier-Japan. On the other hand, Taiwan did not attempt to challenge the technology leadership in a confrontational manner, but focused on being a superior quick follower. In addition, the research paper also addresses the competitive strategies of both countries. The niche strategy for Korea can be attributed to global networking, production, investment, and innovation capability, while the niche strategy and the core competence of Taiwan’s TFT-LCD industry is mainly from system integration capability, quality, cost, and flexibility. The approaches of Taiwan and Korea may shed light on the strategies to be followed by developing countries when they seek to enter knowledge-intensive, high-technology sectors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Understanding the factors that contribute to student success is crucial for educators. This study estimated the indicators of success in the context of student achievement in university EFL courses in Taiwan. Data was collected from two classes of sophomore students and various student assessment aspects served as dependent variables: overall final grade, final exam score, oral test performance, and scores received on the listening, reading, and writing sections of the final exam. Explanatory variables included: years of English study, gender, part-time work, total hours studying English, participation in English-taught program, English language aptitude, first language ability, intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, language anxiety, attendance, reading English for pleasure, and socioeconomic status. Pearson product-moment correlations were calculated and stepwise multiple regression analyses identified selections of variables that explained the dependent variables. Multiple regressions using the selected variables suggested that hours spent studying English, participation in the English taught program, first language ability, attendance and reading for pleasure were the most significant indicators of achievement. All models provided statistically significant moderate to strong explanatory power. Finally, this paper offers pedagogical considerations based on the results, as well as suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Recently, many companies have recognized the concepts of green supply chain management or supply chain environmental management. However, relatively little research attention has been devoted to the consideration of relations between greening the supply chain, green innovation, environmental performance and competitive advantage. Hence, this paper aims to bridge this gap by providing empirical evidence to encourage companies to implement green supply chain and green innovation in order to improve their environmental performance, and to enhance their competitive advantage in the global market. A model is constructed to link the aforementioned constructs. Data were collected through a questionnaire-based survey across 124 companies from eight industry sectors in Taiwan. The data are analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling and the results from the final measurement model are used to evaluate the structural model that verifies the significance of the proposed relationships. A prominent result of this study is that greening the supplier through green innovation contributes significant benefits to the environmental performance and competitive advantage of the firm. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper proposes a strategy for using students’ complementary competencies in cooperative learning to increase their English learning performance. The concept of complementary learning is based on the idea that teaching is learning. The foundation of the complementary learning concept is composed of three stages proposed to derive the optimal learning clusters—input stage, genetic algorithm (GA) stage, and output stage. In tests and verification of the feasibility of using optimal complementary learning clusters in increasing students’ English learning outcome, comparisons between the experimental group (the optimal complementary learning clusters) and the control group showed that students in the experimental group had higher performances in listening, speaking, and reading competencies than those in the control group. Finally, according to the respective importance weights of different English competencies in different learning objectives, the fuzzy linguistic terms were applied to derive optimal complementary learning clusters to maximize students’ learning outcome. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The technology industry is a major driving force in Taiwan''s economic development. The Taiwan government employed technology development programs (TDPs) to stimulate industrial technology research and development to enhance industry competitiveness. This paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), a nonparametric approach, to evaluate the relative efficiency of decision-making units (DMUs) that use multiple inputs to produce multiple outputs, to evaluate the relative managerial efficiency of TDPs. The inputs are human resources and expenditures. The outputs are patents and technology outcomes. We investigated TDP performance over the period from 1999 to 2003. This study uses CCR and BCC models, which are DEA model variants, to calculate efficiency indexes. CCR is adopted under the assumption of constant returns to scale. BCC is used to understand the variable returns to scale, including the constant, decreasing and increasing. We found that TDPs in the material and chemical engineering fields in 1999 and 2001, machinery and aerospace fields in 1999, and communication and optoelectronics fields in 2002 had better performance than the other TDPs. We provide potential improvements for inefficient DMUs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Background: A comprehensive assessment of patient hesitancy to use analgesics and accurate knowledge related to the promotion of analgesic adherence is necessary for effective pain management. Unfortunately, there has been a lack of a short and concise questionnaire to assess patients’ hesitancy to use analgesics in clinical practice. Objective: This paper is a report of the development and psychometric properties of the short version of the Barriers Questionnaire-Taiwan form (S-BQT). Design: This study employed a descriptive design. Setting: A convenience sample was recruited from oncology clinics at two medical centers in Taiwan. Participants: One hundred and eighty-three (N =183) patients receiving analgesics for cancer pain participated in the study. Methods: Instruments included the Barriers Questionnaire-Taiwan form (BQT), the Taiwanese version of the Morisky Medication Adherence Measure-Taiwan form (MMAM-T). Two self-administered questionnaires were performed at the same time, and the ratio of analgesic usage was computed over a two-week period. Reliability was established by calculating Cronbach''s α and test–retest reliability. The validity was estimated by construct validity, criterion-related validity, and known group validity. Results: To develop the S-BQT, we used reliability analysis to extract nine items from nine subscales. Internal consistency of the S-BQT was indicated by a Cronbach''s alphas score of 0.86. Test–retest reliability was assessed as 0.83 over a two-week interval. Factor analysis revealed two factor structures. Criterion-related validity was examined by correlating the S-BQT score, and MMAM-T score, and the ratio of analgesic use. Known group validity was examined by comparing the S-BQT scores of patients with hesitancy to report pain and take analgesics vs. patients demonstrating no such hesitancy in the previous week. Known group validity was also established by comparing the S-BQT scores among patients with low, moderate, and high adherence to the usage of medication. Conclusions: The S-BQT shows excellent reliability and validity. The use of this instrument can help to improve communication between patients and clinicians regarding the use of analgesics in the management of pain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

With Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) and other legislation enacted worldwide, effective information technology (IT) governance has become an imperative for many companies. To maintain effective supervision for keeping their organisation on track with its business strategy, top management need to understand their evolving roles in governance over IT by adopting relevant frameworks to assist the design and evaluate the performance of the company's IT systems. One commonly used framework is COBIT (control objectives for information and related technology) which provides guidelines and best practices to design and evaluate the performance of IT systems. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the general status of IT governance in Taiwan's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and examine whether the key components necessary for achieving effective IT governance are in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper utilizes a confirmatory passenger continuance behavior model to appraise high-speed rail service quality and performance. Surveys are administered for Taiwan High-Speed Rail (THSR) and Korea Train eXpress (KTX) corporations to gain an understanding of passengers’ perceptions of the operational performance using a proposed satisfaction index. A modified importance–performance analysis is employed to enable elaboration of strategic service management decisions. The empirical study concludes that level of access to THSR station and personal space on KTX train are the top-priority quality indicators that need to be addressed to improve customer satisfaction and corporate profits. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Traditional methods of evaluating energy performance of building tend to focus on comparing the observed energy consumption with the average value of energy consumption by regression method or theoretical value calculated by simulation analysis. For evaluating and ranking the energy performance of buildings, this paper proposed a perspective of multiple objective outputs to evaluate the energy performance of buildings and then use a multiple attribute decision-making approach, Grey relational analysis (GRA), to rank the evaluated buildings. The energy performance of 47 office buildings in Taiwan were evaluated and ranked to serve as a case study to illustrate the procedure and effectiveness of the proposed approach. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Harnessing the supply base is an important but complex task for enterprises. Supplier performance evaluation is increasingly seen as a strategic issue for companies to maintain and enhance the competitive edge. However, evaluating suppliers is complicated by the fact that various criteria must be considered in the decision-making process, and is inherently a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. It also concerns the evaluation by different experts of multiple attributes, both qualitative and quantitative. To perceive and to estimate effectively the capability of suppliers are real arduous tasks for executives. This paper takes advantage of the 2-tuple linguistic computing to coping with the heterogeneity and information loss problems while the evaluation processes of subjective integration. The proposed approach based on the group decision-making scenario assists executives in adroit manipulation of the heterogeneity during integration processes and averts the information loss effectively. Finally, we demonstrate the validity and feasibility by means of a high-technology company in Taiwan. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The university performance assessment has become one of the most important debates for the universities in Taiwan. This study aims at developing an intellectual capital (IC) evaluation model to facilitate the understanding of their contribution to the university performances. A conceptual framework that incorporates IC with the university assessment scheme in Taiwan is proposed to construct the IC components as the central intangible resources of universities that are concentrated on its link to university performance ultimately. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied to formulate and prioritize the IC measurement indicators for constructing the IC evaluation model as decision guidelines under which the development and productive use of investments in intangible assets can be made. In this paper, a fuzzy approach is integrated with AHP method to make up the vagueness about the degree of importance of decision-makers on judgment. An illustrative example is provided of the proposed model for developing a visualized form of Shu-Te University distinction tree. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents a study which analyzes perceived differences in the evaluation of teaching performance based on points of view of lecturers and students. The study administers a survey to 10 lecturers and 250 students in a university in Taiwan. The study found that there is a statistical difference among students in their sincerity on evaluations of teaching performance and on how they believe their suggestions will be carried out in the modification of teaching style. It also discovered that there is no statistical difference among lecturers in their views on evaluations of teaching performance. Moreover, it adds that the findings of the study can be used in improving the relevance of evaluation on teaching performance.

Abstract: In this paper, the performance of a south facing single-axis tracked panel was analyzed according to global radiation predicted by empirical model. Mathematic expressions appropriate for single-axis tracking system were derived to calculate the radiation on it. Instantaneous increments of solar energy collected by the tracked panel relative to fixed panel are illustrated. The validity of the empirical model to Taiwan area will also be examined with the actual irradiation data observed in Taipei. The results are summarized as follows: the gains made by the tracked panel relative to a fixed panel are between 20.0% and 33.9% for four specified days of year, between 20.9% and 33.2% for the four seasons and 27.6% over the entire year. For latitudes below 65°, the yearly optimal tilt angle of a fixed panel is close to 0.8 times latitude, the irradiation ratio of the tracked panel to the fixed panel is about 1.3, which are smaller than the corresponding values calculated from extraterrestrial radiation, suggesting us that the installation angle should be adjusted toward a flatter angle and that the gain of the tracked panel will reduce while it works in cloudy climate or in air pollution environment. Although the captured radiation increases with the maximal rotation angle of panel, but the benefit on the global radiation case is still not so good as that on extraterrestrial radiation case. The irradiation data observed is much less than the data predicted by the empirical model, however the trend of fitting curve to the observed data is somewhat in agreement with that to the predicted one; the yearly gain is 14.3% when a tracked panel is employed throughout the year. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

New product development (NPD) is indeed the cornerstone for companies to maintain and enhance the competitive edge. However, developing new products is a complex and risky decision-making process. It involves a search of the environment for opportunities, the generation of project options, and the evaluation by different experts of multiple attributes, both qualitative and quantitative. To perceive and to measure effectively the capability of NPD are real challenging tasks for business managers. This paper presents a 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic computing approach to deal with heterogeneous information and information loss problems during the processes of subjective evaluation integration. The proposed method which is based on the group decision-making scenario to assist business managers to measure the performance of NPD manipulates the heterogeneous integration processes and avoids the information loss effectively. Finally, its feasibility is demonstrated by the result of NPD performance evaluation for a high-technology company in Taiwan. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we combine grey relation analysis with fuzzy multi-criteria group decision-making (FMCGDM) to evaluate financial performance of Taiwan container lines. In the evaluating process, we apply grey relation analysis to partition financial ratios into several clusters, and find representative indices from the clusters. These representative indices are considered as evaluation criteria on financial performance assessments. Then an FMCGDM method is utilized to evaluate the financial performance of Taiwan container lines. By the evaluation, one container line can realize the finance competitive strength on container shipping market. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In formulating competitive strategies, one must first measure the comparative performance of the entire industry, and also may understand one's advantages and disadvantages. This paper uses the effectiveness model to measure the relative managerial performance and performance change of 50 listed corporations of the electronics industry under multiple financial ratio criteria. On the basis of the measurement of managerial performance, the entire industry can be partitioned into six clusters. Effective management strategies are developed specifically to each of six clusters of electronics industry. It was expected that this study would provide improvements to the existing financial ratio analysis; at the same time, illustrate the linkage between performance evaluation and strategy formulation for future business management needs of managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper evaluates and compares the operational performance of ten major airports in Taiwan. The measure of operational performance is based on the relationship between four factors: airport, passengers, airline companies, and fire services. To overcome the restrictions of the small sample size, grey relation analysis is used to group the initial evaluation indicators and to select the representative indicators. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Since 1979, the technology development projects held by Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) of Taiwan have gradually become the most important policy of Taiwan's industrial technology development. The organization technology development project (OTDP) takes the major share of government budget. Thus, the performance evaluation for the OTPD has become an important issue for Taiwan's technology policy. The purpose of this study is to apply the dynamic slack-based measure (DSBM) to investigate the integrated performances for the OTDP in consecutive periods and for various industrial domains that include electronics, information, communications and optoelectronics (EICO), mechanics, mechatronics and transportation (MMT) and biotechnology, pharmaceutics, material and chemistry (BPMC). The experemental results show that BPMC have been funded much more than other organizations but with a worse efficiency. The BPMC gets the lowest execution efficiency score of 0.3082 while the EICO gets the best avernge efficiency score of 0.5831. based on the results, it is suggested that Taiwan government should evaluate the integrated performances of OTDP in consecutive time periods for various industrial domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]